Shaft seal



Patented Mar. 6, 1945 UNlTED STATES SHAFT SEAL John T. Janette, Kenilworth lll., assignor to Janette Manufacturing Company, Chicago, n.. a corporation of Illinois Application October 12, 1942, Serial No. 461,753

claim.

an improved seal or retaining device which will.

be simple in construction and durable and emcient in operation and which may be readily applied to a shaft and its housing without any special finishing or fitting Operations; to provide a shaft seal embodying a sealing element which will have universal movement with respect to the shaft in order to maintain a close sealing contact therewith; to provide means whereby the sealing element may be supported i'or relatively free movement and win be packed or sealed between the element and its supporting means, and n general, to provide an improved seal of the character indicated which will be described more fully hereinaiter.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating this invention,

Fig. 1 is a cross sectional view representing a portion of a machine in whicha shait is mounted, shtwing my improved seal in operative position; an

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken 'substantially on the line 2.-2 of Fig. 1. n

Seals of this character are used for a large variety of machines, and in the drawing, 5 indicates the body portion or frame of a machine' such as a pump, compressor or. gear casing having a bearing 6 for a shaft' 1. The frame or casng 5 has a boss or housing 8 around the bearing,

which is closed by means of a cap or cover 9 held in position by bolts or cap screws III. This cap has an inwardly ext'ending cylindrical projection or hub H having a peripheral groove '2 and an. end fiange '3, i

The shalt has a sealing portion '4 which may comprise a ring or part fixed to the shaft or which may be a shoulder or abutment formed by having the end portion l' of the shaft reduced as shown. Rotary shafts of the character indicated frequntly have a limited longitudina movement or play and may also have radial movement so tha it is desirable to have the sealing members arranged to allow for such movements while maintaining a tight sealing relation with the shaft.

I accomplishthis by means ot a sealing member or element i' which coacts with the shoulder or abutment I' and has a cylindrical portion l"` which extends outwardly over the hub 'l, but has sufilcient space or clearance so that it may move freely with respect to the hub. The cylindrical portion '1 is formed integrally with a disc '8 which has a portion such as an annular projection or ring '8 that engages with the shoulder H to form the running seal. I have found that in actual operation, the surfaces of these coacting sealing parts' become'very smooth and are apt to have a mirror finish thus forming a tight joint to prevent the passage of oil or fiuid as indicated at 20. The bore of the fiange portion '9 is sufllciently larger than the diameter of the shalt to permit free movement of such ring or sealing member. The sealing member or element '8 is pressed inwardly or urged against the abutmcnt onthe shaft by any suitable resilient means such as a spring 2' which is interposed between the sealing member and the cap 9. This spring is preferably of conical form. the larger end of which engages with the cap and is held in censo tral position by means of a fiange 22. Its smaller inner end fits over the cylindrical portion I" so that the spring tends to hold the sealing member '6 in axial position as well as to urge it against the shoulder i l. Any suitable means may be pro- '2' vided to prevent rotation of the sealing member l' as, for instance, the pins 28 which are fixed in the cap 9 and project through guide slots 24 inthedisc '8. so A sealing ring or gasket 25 which may be made artificial rubber, or other like resilient substance, is positioned in the slot '2 and makes a tight closure between the hub 'l and the cylindrical portion ""of the sealing member. This ring may be of any suitable cross' 'section to effect such closing or sealing between the adjacent parts, and also to hold the sealing member in substantially axial alignment with the shaft. With this arrangement. the sealing member* '8 will have free movement both longitudinally and transversely. or in other words, win have such a umversal movement that the engaging portion or flange '9 is free to follow the coacting surface '4 of the shalt regardless of slight misalignment of the shalt or longitudinal movement of the same. Ii' the oil or iluid which is to be retained in the frame or easing 5 is under substantial pressure, such pressure against the sealing member '6 will be 'nearly balanced and a comparatively light spring will be sufllcient to hold the sealing member against the abutment '4. The fiuid is free *to pass the open end of the cylindrical portion i" and into the groove '2 where it presses the ring 2' closely against the adjacent parts and J' thus the ring prevent' the passage of fluid and of any suitable material as, for instance, rubber,'

effectively holds the fluid from escaping even if it is under relatively' high pressure.

My improved seal is substantially self-contained and requires no accurate or tight fitting ofthe sealing parts with the inner wall of the boss or housing 8. The various parts of the seal may be mounted on the plate or cover 9 and the heads of the screws or pine .23 will serve to hold the parts together preparatory for placing the seal in operative position.

I have shown and described a simple and eflicient form of the invention which is adapted to be used for sealing the shai'ts of various kinds of machines or machine elements, but changes may be made in the design or construction of the housing and extending into the recess and having a sealing abutment within the recess, a cap ior said recess, means for securing the cap to the housing, a cylindrical projection extending from the cap into the recess, which fits -freely over the shalt and having a peripheral groove there'in. a cylindrical sealing member having one end engaging with the abutment on the shaft to form a seal and extending freely over thecylindrical projection with its outer end open, a resilient rin in said groove which engages the inner surface of same in order to adapt the seal to difierent shafts or machines and therefore I do not wish to be limited to the particular construction herein shown and described except as set forth in the following claim:

In a pressure seal, in combination, a. housing having a. recess therein, a shaftmounted in said the cylindrical sealing member to closev the space therebetween and to hold the sealing member so that it may have a. substantially universal movement, a spring urging the sealing member against said abutment, and neans for holding the sealing member in operative' relation to the cap, the arrangement being such that pressure of fluid in the recess will react against the sealing ring and 20 increase its pressure against the adjacent parts.

4 JOHN T. JANE'ITE. 

